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West Deptford Middle School students clean up Delaware River banks at Riverwinds

Riverwinds Trash Cleanup, March 23, 2013

Locals and students from West Deptford Middle School take to the Delaware River banks for a cleanup effort in the vicinity of the Riverwinds complex on Saturday, March 23, 2013. (Staff Photo by Jesse Bair/ South Jersey TImes)

WEST DEPTFORD — Sacrificing their Saturday morning and braving the cold weather, a group of West Deptford students were joined by some local residents in their efforts to clean up the Delaware River.

At the Riverwinds in West Deptford on Saturday, a group of seventh and eighth graders took to the river with trash pickers in hand as part of joint project with Wheelabrator, a waste management company in Gloucester County.

Michael Kissel, the Plant Manager at Wheelabrator, has worked with the middle school for a number of years on environmental projects.

“This year, we wanted to do something out in the community,” said Kissel.

This year, Kissel and the class of middle schoolers were trying to focus on the dangers of mercury as part of their yearly environmental study group.

“But it’s hard to find out about what you can do about mercury that isn’t dangerous,” said Kissel.

And clean up the trash they did. Gillian Purbenas, an eighth grader at West Deptford Middle School, said that she was surprised to learn about exactly how polluted the river was.

“When we heard that the Delaware River was one of the most polluted rivers in the country, we wanted to do something to help out,” said Purbenas.

She and a number of other classmates were shocked to find out first-hand how bad the river’s trash problem had actually become.

“You really don’t think about it but you see how bad it is and how much of a difference there is now since we’ve been here,” said Kate Andielczyk, a fellow classmate. “We were really surprised by the kinds of trash we found down there.”

Andielczyk even went so far to say they had found an oven while cleaning up the banks of the river.

And while the group had to wrap up a bit early, with the cold wind working against their efforts to better their local environment, Kissel said that they aren’t anywhere close to done trying.

“This is going to take days... weeks,” said Kissel. “We heard there is a woman’s club trying to organize something here in May, so we’re going to try and make it out again.”